Tuesday, March 31, 2015

I am going to lose this game.

It's not a question of "if", but a question of "when" I'm going to lose the minimalism game. My brother texts me to say things like, "I had a few minutes yesterday, so I got rid of a hundred things." My mother is disposing of so many things that she matches them up with the day: 23 books get listed on the 23 day, and 16 charges get listed on the 16 day. I'm still managing to cull my possessions, but I have so much less than them to begin with. On the other hand, as I say to everyone, if I lose, I still win. My family is getting rid of possessions!
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It's almost spring here. The leaves are budding, and if we get a couple of warm days, the trees will green up. I'm so excited to be in the garden that I've run out of things to do. I've planted the cold weather crops, cleanup the leaf cover, hauled two car-loads of compost from the city compost center to my garden, and planted tomatoes indoors. I've also seen my first mosquito, another (less-welcome) sign of spring.
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The vegetable larder is starting to get empty, and I'm actually quite grateful. I was thrilled to eat from my garden so late into the year, but I'm also a bit weary of frozen vegetables. I've still got enough green peppers and tomatoes to carry me into June, but I can start buying things from the store with a clean conscience. Last week I was so excited to buy fresh things that I went a bit overboard, so it'll be salads every day for me this week.
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My parents will be visiting in three weeks, just in time for my father to help me deal with a long list of repair projects. My bike has been rattling for weeks, and can't figure out how to install my new bike lights. I also had a slight (slow and not dangerous) encounter with a concrete post, resulting in some scratches on my car. It's nothing too serious, except that a panel near the driver's door was slightly bent and it would be better if I didn't open the driver's side door until it's fixed. So, for the next there weeks, I'll be crawling in on the passenger's side.

3 comments:

de-I said...

Your parents (especially father) could get rid of things for years and not be close to your minimalist lifestyle.

Anonymous said...

That's funny. I was thinking a fair chance at this game is to measure by percentage of possessions. Your house (except for the kitchen) is pretty much uncluttered to begin with.

However, I seem to share your joy of enjoying reducing the amount of crap that has no use in one's house and life. Feels really good to make a visible dent. Thanks for sharing your insight. -jg

alexis said...

oh dear, I'm glad the pole incident wasn't more serious!

And big hat off to you - I can't believe you went the whole winter and didn't buy and vegetables! That's amazing. A credit to you and your gigantic freezer. ;)